A new warrior against cancer

In the taxing journey of cancer treatment, breakthroughs seldom come as game-changers that offer renewed hope where once there was very little.

- DR RAMASWAMY N V

IN the taxing journey of cancer treatment, breakthroughs seldom come as game-changers that offer renewed hope where once there was very little. One such cutting-edge advancement is CAR-T therapy. Let's look at what CAR T-Cell therapy is.

Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR T-Cell) therapy is a form of immunotherapy that harnesses the body's immune system to fight cancer. It works by reprogramming a patient's immune cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells.

The process involves collecting a patient's T-cells—a type of white blood cell—with an apheresis machine. Then they are genetically modified in a laboratory to produce a new chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) on their surface. These CAR receptors recognize particular proteins (antigens) found on cancer cells. Once restructured, the modified T-cells proliferate and are infused back into the patient's bloodstream. These supercharged T-cells seek out and destroy the targeted cancer cells with intensity and precision.

Beneficiaries

CAR T-Cell Therapy has shown remarkable results and has been approved for treating certain blood cancers such as:

This personalized therapy, tailored to one's immune system, has proven to be a treatment for long-term remission and as a curative option for the above cancers when standard treatments or salvage therapy fail. It does not cause the side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.